


fly times at spooky high

by frozensight



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-03 18:09:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4110223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozensight/pseuds/frozensight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dana Scully starts her freshman year of high school thinking the absolute most annoying thing she'll have to deal with is her older siblings messing with her and gratuitous amounts of homework over the weekends. What she absolutely doesn't expect is for sophomore, Fox Mulder, to be assigned her chemistry lab partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. enter stage right: spooky mulder

**Author's Note:**

> So this year I have decided to actually sit down and watch The X-Files as an adult and illuminate my hazy childhood memories of everyone's favorite extraterrestrial show. In the process, however, mentions of hs!Mulder/Scully came about between my friends and I, and needless to say, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
> 
> Therefore, this is going to be a collection of moments from my vision of 'spooky high'. I was going to wait and post a big long thing, but this gets it out there sooner and will probably help me write more in the long run. Hopefully they'll all be written chronologically, but I'm not holding myself to that.
> 
> Let's get spooky!

Mulder is an idiot, Scully decides soon after she's paired with the boy for chemistry lab. All he does is talk about aliens, government conspiracies, supernatural creatures, or the latest science-fiction book/movie/show. 

"Hand me the tongs," she asks, focusing on their lab— _hers_ really—and steadfastly ignoring every word about UFOs and recent abductions that Mulder has decided is fit for today's discussion. 

"I'm just _saying_ Scully, the possibilities are endless!" He hands over the tongs, but not before almost knocking over the beaker of liquid as he waves them around. "Who knows what kind of life is out there, and why _shouldn't_ they be curious about us?" 

The teacher, Ms. Spender, gives Scully a sympathetic look as she walks around, checking her students' work. It's like she wants to apologize for sticking her with Mulder, but also thank her for putting up with him when no one else will. 

"Scully, are you listening to me?" 

She rolls her eyes as she finishes up their lab, writing down the successful results. "Not really, Mulder." 

"Well, you should because this could save your life one day." 

"I don't think aliens are going to be abducting me anytime soon." _If ever_ , she adds mentally. 

He shrugs, idly reading over the lab worksheet. "It's not like it's something you can predict, Scully. Their whole shtick is beaming you up when you're asleep or on the toilet or in the middle of the woods at night." Mulder puts the worksheet back down, nodding. "Good job. Knew you'd do it right." 

Scully wants to throw the concocted liquid in his face. However, despite his ramblings and inactivity, Mulder does follow lab procedure and is wearing lab goggles, so the action wouldn't be effective anyway. 

"Yes. No thanks to you." 

"I'd only get in your way, we both know that." 

With a sigh, Scully picks up the worksheet and walks over to their teacher's desk. "Here you go, Ms. Spender." 

Ms. Spender glances over the worksheet to make sure they've done everything, and then smiles up at Scully. "Good work, Dana." 

"Thank you, Ms. Spender," she replies, grateful that despite being landed with Mulder as a lab partner, Ms. Spender is aware who is doing the work. 

Back at their table, Mulder has his notebook open and is scribbling in it when Scully gets back from handing in their work. Sitting back down to begin organizing things for clean-up, she glances over at him. His face is close to the paper and screwed up in concentration as he writes words into a bubble above what looks to be a UFO. She rolls her eyes again and goes about cleaning up their lab, once again by herself, while Mulder sits and continues doodling. 

When she's done, the end of class bell sounds and Mulder's already gone. There is, however, a piece of paper folded and lying on top of her chemistry textbook. Raising an eyebrow, Scully picks it up and unfolds it. She snorts when she sees the drawing Mulder had been working on, which turns out to be a UFO—the words 'When you least expect it!' in the speech bubble above it—as it beams up a stick figure that Scully assumes is supposed to be her. 

She folds the paper back up, holding onto it as she gathers her things and makes to leave the classroom for English. Her hand hovers over the trashcan on her way out, Mulder's drawing inches away from death by slow decomposition at a dump somewhere, but in the end she keeps walking, tucking the piece of paper into her math book instead. 

Scully wants to throw it away, but thinks that maybe it'll be better if she does so at home. Because while Mulder might be frustrating and unhelpful, she doesn't want to hurt his feelings by tossing out what he clearly meant as some sort of odd gift. She totally winds up forgetting about the drawing, though, and only remembers it the following week when her books fall out of her locker and all the loose paper escapes and scatters around her on the floor. 

"Hey, you kept it." Scully looks up from where she's kneeling down, stacking her books back into her locker, to see Mulder standing over her, his drawing from their last chemistry lab in his hands. He grins at her, turning the paper around to show her the picture again. "I thought for sure you would've thrown it away." 

"I meant to." She stands up and snatches it away from him, silently grateful when he didn't try to hold it out of her reach—with the foot he has on her, it wouldn't have been hard. 

"Oh you _meant_ to, I see." He leans against the locker next to hers, and Scully hopes Bill and Missi haven't left without her again. 

"Yes, I did, now if you'll excuse me, I have to find my ride home." 

To her annoyance though, Mulder proceeds to follow her outside, rambling about the main article in this week's _National Inquirer._ She's also dismayed when she's halfway to the parking lot before Bill texts her to tell her that he left, that Missi is catching a ride home with her boyfriend, and he has 'guy stuff' to do—which Scully knows is code for going to the park with his not-girlfriend-but-who-totally-is, Tara. 

"Damnit," grumbles Scully, firing off a reply to her brother that expresses her acceptance of this plan, but also that she's pissed at him. 

"Something wrong, Scully?" She jumps, having forgotten that Mulder is standing there with her. 

"Nothing. My brother just ditched me and now I have to walk home, but it's no big deal." 

Mulder thinks about something for a bit, watching her as if trying to predict her reaction to whatever it is he's planning on saying. "Well, I have a car, so...I could give you a ride. That is, if you think getting a ride from Spooky Mulder won't ruin your reputation." 

Scully blinks. She doesn't see Mulder much outside of chemistry so she'd forgotten that 'Spooky Mulder' is a thing people call him—including her own brother and sister. It's fitting, if only because all the subjects he insists on talking about are, well, _spooky,_ but it's also a really sorry excuse of a nickname. 

"Oh, no I couldn't; I probably live the complete opposite way of you." 

Mulder shrugs, his hands shoved into his pockets. "I don't have anything better to do tonight. The Lone Gunmen aren't meeting until tomorrow, so I'm free until dinner." 

"The Lone Gunmen?" Scully can't say she's ever heard of that particular club. 

He chuckles. "That's just what they call themselves. They're just a group of guys who are even 'spookier' than I am." Mulder pauses, gesturing over his shoulder towards the parking lot. "So, you want a ride, Scully?" 

She thinks it over for a bit, but eventually the prevailing summer heat decides for her. "That'd be great. Thanks, Mulder." 

"No problem." His grin returns as he leads the way to his car. "So anyway, what are your opinions on the Loch Ness Monster? Fact or fiction?" 

Scully makes herself promise to be polite, he's giving her a ride home after all, and replies, "Fake, of course." 

"Good answer." He's nodding as he walks, hands back in his pockets. "There's definitely no way a creature that size could be in that lake and still undetected at this age." 

"That's unexpectedly reasonable of you, Mulder." 

"Of course," he carries on, as if she hasn't said anything, "there's always the possibility such a creature lives in an ocean. All sorts of thins live down at the bottom in trenches that we haven't been able to discover yet. Who's to say sea monsters like Nessie or a Kraken can't be out, lurking in the depths of the Mariana's Trench?" 

She huffs, shifting her backpack on her shoulders. "You'll really believe in anything, won't you?" 

"Not anything, just _most_ anything." 

"Okay, so what _won't_ you believe in? Werewolves?" 

"Real." 

"Vampires?" 

"Dracula is a book for a reason, Scully." 

"Unicorns?" 

"I'm sure they existed in the historical sense, but horses and other equines have evolved since." 

She rolls her eyes, but then throws out the most logical thing she can think of that he might believe in, "Fine, but what about God?" 

Mulder stalls for time by taking his car keys out of his pocket and unlocking his car, throwing his own backpack into the backseat. He doesn't answer until both he and Scully are seated. "Never really been big on the big man upstairs, actually." 

"You believe in _werewolves_ but not _God_?" 

He smiles a little to himself as he turns on the radio, lowering the volume so it can serve as background noise. "I'm not the only non-believer to exist, Scully." 

"Yes, well, _obviously_ , but Mulder, how can you know for a fact there are extraterrestrials out there, and yet be uncertain about the possibility of God?" 

"I could ask the same of you. How can _you_ believe in God, but not aliens?" Scully finds she can't answer that, and he knows it. "It's not always a matter of practicality, but sometimes of belief. I _want_ to believe in aliens, so I do." 

"But you don't want to believe in God?" 

He shrugs as he turns out of the parking lot and towards the street. "Never had a reason to, so I never did." He pulls up to a red light before he looks over at Scully, his face calm and smiling like they hadn't just been discussing God and aliens in the same breath. "Now, where do you live?" 

More than a little baffled by this whole long-term exposure to Mulder experience, Scully tells him, and then falls quiet, deciding to actually _listen_ to Mulder's ramblings for once as he drives towards her house, following her directions as needed. His conviction is clear, even though she's still highly skeptical herself, but the sheer intensity of his beliefs is almost enough to make her _want_ to believe as he does. He also apparently has no problem carrying on a conversation by himself, only really expecting Scully to comment occasionally, to indicate she's listening. By the time they get to her house, he's gone over the logistics and theories of crop circles, the purposes of probing, and the idea that Bigfoot probably hibernates. 

"Anyway, there's also speculation on the actual differences between Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman, but I'll save that for another time," he declares as he parks his car in the driveway. 

"I'll wait with bated breath." Her reply is intentionally sarcastic, but Scully can't help smiling at Mulder. While she still thinks it's all a load of crap, it's fascinating to hear someone talk about something so passionately. She'll probably continue ignoring him during lab though, mostly for the sake of their combined grade. "Thanks for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow?" 

"Tomorrow it is." She gets out of the car with just a murmured goodbye and makes her way to the front door. It isn't until after she's unlocked it that Mulder begins backing up, so she turns to wave at him as she enters the house, smiling to herself as he grins and waves back before driving away. 

It'll probably get around to Bill and Missi that she got a ride home from Spooky Mulder, but Scully can't bring herself to care. Sure, he's weird, but at least _Mulder_ stuck around to give her a ride home. 


	2. [blank], it's me

"Hey Scully, it's me."

Scully pulls her phone away from her face, glances at the unfamiliar but local number, and replies, "Mulder?"

"Give the lady a prize."

"Mulder, how did you get my number?"

"Your sister gave it to me."

Silently, Scully makes a vow to kill Missi, just a little. "Of course she did."

"Yeah she was a lot cooler about it than your brother. He threatened to beat me up? Said something about my intentions which I don't get 'cuz I just wanted to ask your opinion on the historical likelihood of dragons."

She sighs, setting down her pencil on her desk. "Oh, yes, naturally."

"Exactly, anyway I told _him_ that and he just laughed while walking away and said I knew nothing about girls and I told him I didn't see why that was relevant as I'd like to talk about _dragons_." Mulder moves on his end, causing a brief static noise. "So, tell me what you know and think about dragons, Scully."

"Mulder, I'm doing my biology homework."

"I'll take that as not much, but lucky for you, I got this sweet book from the library yesterday, and—"

Scully puts the call on speaker and continues doing her homework while passively listening to Mulder go on and on about the possibility that dragons could've at one point roamed the earth.

\------

[to: Mulder]  
Did I leave my math book in your car?

[from: Mulder]  
who is this

[to: Mulder]  
…it’s me

[from: Mulder]  
hey me this is mulder

[to: Mulder]  
I know that Mulder; it’s Scully

[from: Mulder]  
oh hey scully whats up

[to: Mulder]  
I asked if my math book is in your car?

[from: Mulder]  
hold on let me go check

[from: Mulder]  
yeah it’s in the backseat do you want me to bring it over

[to: Mulder]  
If you don’t mind. I’ll treat you to ice cream on Friday to pay you back.

[from: Mulder]  
sweet haha

[to: Mulder]  
Thanks Mulder

[from: Mulder]  
anything for you sculls on my way


	3. i want to believe

It's almost Halloween when Scully first learns about Samantha Mulder.

"Yeah she like, ran away or something," explains Missi after school one day, though Scully has a hard time calling that a _real_ explanation.

"Okay, but _why?_ I don't really know Mulder's parents, but I can't imagine they're bad people." She keeps to herself that she's more than a little hurt that Mulder himself hadn't been the one to tell her of his wayward sister. Missi and Bill already give her enough grief about being friends with him.

"I don't know, Dana! Do I look like an expert on the inner workings of the Mulder family dynamics?" Missi groans and walks away. "Why don't you ask the Spook?"

"He doesn't like to be called that, you know," counters Scully lamely.

Missi scoffs. "And I'll let you know when I care." She's gone to her room before Scully can muster a retort. Frustrated, she's left staring at her phone, her thumb hovering over hitting send on a message to Mulder. Eventually she sighs and erases the message that asked about his sister. It's one of those things better asked about in person, she reasons, as she goes back to working on homework.

\------

She sees Mulder a number of times between that afternoon and the actual day of Halloween, but not once does she muster up the nerve to ask him about Samantha. He's far too excited about Halloween (his favorite holiday, he says), and she doesn't want to spoil that.

"Mulder, what are you supposed to be?" is the first thing out of her mouth when she sees him that night. They plan on meeting up with the members of the Lone Gunmen club at some point, but Mulder said he wanted to do some trick-or-treating without them first—something about Frohike being a candy deterrent.

Mulder glances down at his outfit—a suit and tie, with a little American flag pin on his lapel. "I'm a United States Congressman, the scariest thing known to mankind." Scully snorts. Of course it is. He points at her and asks, "What are you, Scully?"

Scully pulls her gloves so they fit better, goggles dangling from her neck. "I'm a mad scientist."

He cocks his head and smiles crookedly at her. "The lab coat suits you, Scully. I'd almost say you're going as a sexy scientist, but I'm not sure you quite pull it off."

She rolls her eyes, but despite herself, grins. "Whatever, _Congressman_ Mulder, let's just go get some candy."

They visit a few blocks before they run into the Gunmen on accident (all of whom are wearing Anonymous masks, color Scully completely unsurprised). Frohike asks if Scully's costume is a sexy scientist right off the bat, and out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Mulder roll his. Byers and Langly mock Frohike for his not-so-subtle crush on Scully as the five of them continue going to houses. Frohike declares loudly that he's purposefully being blunt, that women appreciate that sometimes, and Mulder pats him on the back before falling in step with Scully at the rear of the group.

"Sometimes, Frohike," begins Mulder, shooting a small grin at Scully, "they appreciate the subtlety more."

Frohike scoffs, and from there the conversation shifts to the norm—conspiracy theories and debates about how deep the corruption of the government _really_ goes. Scully glances at Mulder, who's not participating, but sees that he's watching the Gunmen trio, an amused smile on his face.

As it turns out, Mulder had been right about Frohike and candy, and they only get through another block before they decide to call it a night after being turned away for the third time. The Gunmen walk off to Frohike's car (they park far away from any place they're going to be seen publicly), while Mulder and Scully go the other way. The walk back is quiet as Scully debates internally. She isn't sure she even wants to ask about Samantha anymore, least of all on Mulder's favorite holiday, but at the same time, the unknown variables surrounding it are fueling her curiosity.

"You can go ahead and ask, Scully," he says softly, hands in his pockets. His eyes are focused ahead, and though he's trying to come off as relaxed, she can tell that he's tense. "I know you've been dying to ask since your sister told you."

Scully blinks. "How did you know she told me?"

He shrugs. "I heard her talking it with some of her friends in the hallway of Building C the other day. She seemed to think it was weird you didn't already know." Mulder meets her eyes when they reach his car. "So ask away, Scully; it's alright."

"What happened? Where'd she go?" Scully pauses, a little annoyed that her last question is still the one that burns her the most, but also the one she can’t bring herself to voice: _Why didn't you tell me?_

"The funny thing about alien abduction," Mulder starts, with an apparent non sequitur, "is that no one talks about those who don't come back. They get lost among the piles of missing person police reports, with the assumption that some freak kidnapped and killed them, or brainwashed them and continues to hold them hostage. There's no closure, only the endless waiting and the constant, though gradual declining, hope that someday they'll just walk back into your life, like they never left."

His face is pensive, but resigned, like he's thought about this before, and it takes Scully a moment to figure it out. "Mulder, are you trying to tell me you think your sister was _abducted_?"

"I don't think, Scully; I _know_."

"Mulder, are you sure she didn't just run away or something? There has to be a more logical explanation for this besides aliens."

He pushes away from the car, which he'd been leaning against, and huffs. “Look, Scully, I don't expect you to believe me, but it's the truth. I was _there_ when it happened. There was a light and the room shook and then she was just...gone." Mulder sounds smaller, more child-like in this moment than any other time he'd been going on about dragons or vampires or the mothman of West Virginia, and that itself makes Scully stop. "I've seen therapists who've told me that I'm projecting, that I've created an illusion for myself in order to cope with her disappearance. My parents have come to their own conclusion that she ran away, that she's never coming back, but I can't deny the _truth_ , Scully."

"Then what is the truth, Mulder?" Her hand reaches out to him cautiously, holding still near his, but not touching.

"The truth is that seven years ago my sister was abducted by aliens, and every day I'm waiting for them to bring her back."

Scully catalogs this with everything else she knows about Mulder, and suddenly everything else makes sense. "She's why you believe in all that mythical creature and extraterrestrial stuff." It's a statement, but Mulder nods in affirmation anyway.

"If I don't believe Scully, then my parents are right—she's _gone,_ so I want to believe." Softer, his eyes downcast to his feet, he repeats, "I _need_ to believe."

Taking the couple steps to Mulder's side, Scully's hand rests on his arm, bringing his eyes up to hers. She smiles at him. "It's okay to believe in something, Mulder."

"Even if it's a little bit spooky?" His tone is mocking, and Scully can't tell if he's mocking himself or the word. Either way, it makes her squeeze his arm a tiny bit tighter.

"If I can believe in God, then why shouldn't you be allowed to believe in aliens?"

"Why Scully, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

She rolls her eyes, a smile on her face now that she can see the tension has left Mulder's face. "Shut up and unlock the car, Mulder. It's almost my curfew."

They get into the car, and as Mulder drives towards Scully's house, he resumes his usual one-sided conversations about miscellaneous oddities of the world. Scully finds herself relaxing because _this_ is Mulder, and while she feels bad that he's like this because of his sister vanishing, she also wouldn't have him act any other way.

When they pull into the driveway of her house, her father peaks his head out of the living room window for a moment, and Scully snorts at his protectiveness. As she unbuckles her seatbelt, Mulder whispers, "Thanks, Dana."

Unsure if it's the gratitude or being called by her first name (for what Scully thinks might very well be the first time), she blinks at him for a moment before she replies, "Don't mention it, Fox."

He grins at her, big and wide, and it's like they never talked about Samantha that evening. "I'll see ya at school on Monday?"

"Where else would I be?"

Mulder winks at her. "Then it's a date."

She exaggeratedly rolls her eyes at him as she closes the car door behind her. "Yeah, sure, fine, _whatever_ , Mulder."

He's laughing as he backs out of the driveway, and Scully waves goodbye from her front step. When she finally enters her house, her father is casually reading the newspaper on the couch next to her mother, who's flipping through a magazine.

"Hey, I'm home," she says, even though she's well aware they already know that.

"Did you have a good time?" asks her mother, looking up from her magazine.

"Yeah, it was fun." Scully holds up her bag of candy, shaking it for emphasis. "Mulder and I got a lot of loot."

Her father visibly tenses at Mulder's name, and Scully tries not to roll her eyes again. "That boy, he took good care of you, right, Starbuck?"

Scully loses the battle with her eyes, rolling them nearly out of her head, tempered only by the fond grin on her lips. "His name is Mulder, Dad, and yes, he watched out for me or whatever else it is you think he had to do. All we did was go trick-or-treating and meet up with friends. There was nothing to worry about."

"I'm just happy, you're happy, Starbuck," is all her dad says in response, and Scully kisses his cheek before going upstairs.

"Goodnight, Dad, Mom."

"Goodnight, Dana."

She's only finished sorting her candy into 'keep' and 'throw at Bill's head' piles when Scully gets a text from Mulder.

 

[from: Mulder]  
have i ever talked to you about my theory that albinos are failed clone experiments

[to: Mulder]  
I don't think so

[from: Mulder]  
then boy do i have a story for you sculls

 

Giving her phone a fond look, Scully discovers that while she's sure she'll think it's all utter bullshit, she's eager to read this new theory of Mulder's.

"Maybe I can believe one day too," she mutters out loud to her room. She feels silly immediately, but she can’t exactly say she regrets her words either.


End file.
